mcqueen and macgraw

I find the changing definition of masculinity fascinating.  Steve McQueen is in some ways the apex of a certain midcentury definition of manhood.  He slaps Ali MacGraw in The Getaway.  At one point it was considered socially acceptable for a husband to spank his wife, as though she were a child in his care.

Let's Give Peace A Chance! A Symbol From The Sixties!

The Beatles in 1964 - The beginning of "Beatlemania."

Yippie led anti-election protestors outside City Hall, San Francisco, CA, Oct. 1968

Peace sign flashing, anti-election protestors in Grant Park during a demonstration against the Democratic National Convention, Chicago, IL, Aug. 1968

Shirtless male drummer & dress-wearing female flutist jamming during Woodstock music festival, Bethel, NY, Aug. 1969

The Jackson Five with their parents, Joseph and Katherine. They signed with Motown in November of 1968

Astronaut Edwin Aldrin saluting American flag after being second man on moon during Apollo II mission, July 1969

Having been born in 1946, I am considered to be a “baby-boomer.” In fact, the baby-boomer generation began with Americans born in 1946.

My father met my mother in 1944 while he was in the Navy, fighting in World War 2, and she was a comptometer operator in San Francisco. He was discharged in 1945, they married and I was born in June of 1946, along with over 3,400,000 other Americans, thereby “starting a boom” in the population that continued through 1964.

In the Spring of 1964, I graduated from St. Dominic High School in O’Fallon, MO, and five years later, in the Spring of 1969, I graduated from Truman State University (aka Northeast Missouri State University).

As you can see, I was in high school and college during the “sixties” – the time when many expressions we currently assume always had meaning, actually came into existence. So, what are some of these expressions that are used when referring to that era?

The following are all expressions that I remember from the sixties. I have each expression in hypertext, in case you would like to read more about them. Also, in parenthesis, is the time in my life when I first heard the expression.

Sex, Drugs and Rock N Roll (in college)

Make Love, Not War (in college)

Flower Power (in college)

Hippies (in college)

Beatlemania (in high school)

Woodstock (Summer after graduation from college)

Motown (in high school)

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out (in college)

Civil Rights Movement (in high school)

Yippies (in college)

Man Walking On The Moon (Summer after graduation from college)

Along with the expressions mentioned above, there are many pictures and/or symbols that reflect that era – the time when many baby boomers “came of age.”  I hope you will find the pictures, at the beginning of this posting, interesting and enlightening.

Ok, now you can see a little of what this baby boomer encountered during the sixties. Perhaps, I should rephrase the question in the title and write, “What does the beginning baby boomers’ generation have to be thankful for?” Should we be thankful for Beatlemania? Should we be thankful for Woodstock?  Should we be thankful for the civil rights movement? Should we be thankful for a man walking on the moon? Should we be thankful for … I say, YES!

These are all important parts of our history. They helped shape our society into one that is much more diverse and rich in population, culture, art, politics, music, science, etc. We all need to be thankful for our history that helped us learn and grow into a generation that has more education, more privileges and a greater quality of life than any previous generation.

I’m thankful today for my life – truly a gift, which is why it is called the present!

Happy Thanksgiving To All!

V/A – Nuggets : original artyfacts from the first psychedelic era (1972 Elektra)

face A

01 the Electric Prunes - I had too much too dream last night (#11)

02 the Standells – dirty water (#11)

03 the Strangeloves – night time (#30)

04 the Knickerbockers – lies (#20)

05 the Vagrant – respect

06 Mouse - a public execution

07 the Blues Project – no time like the right time (#96)

face B

01 the Shadows of Night - oh yeah! (#39)

02 the Seeds – pushing too hard (#32)

03 the Barbarians - moulty (#90)

04 the Remains - don’t look back

05 the Magicians – an invitation to cry

06 the Castaways – liar liar (#12)

07 the 13th floor elevator – you’re gonna miss me (#65)

face C

01 Count Five – psychotic reactions (#5)

02 the Leaves – hey joe (#31)

03 Michael and the Messengers - Romeo and Juliet

04 the Cryan Shames – Sugar & Spice (#49)

05 the Amboy Dukes – baby please don’t go

06 the Blues Magoos – tobacco road

face D

01 the Chocolate Watchband – let’s talk about girls

02 the Mojo Men – sit down i think i love you (#36)

03 the Third Rail – run run run (#53)

04 Sagittarius – my world fell down (#70)

05 Nazz – open my eyes (#112)

06 the Premiers – farmer john (#19)

07 the Magic Mushroom – it’s-a-happening (#93)

Lenny Kaye et Jack Holzman, assemblent en 1972 cette collection de morceau garage et pop 60s à une époque où les trolls, et les voix perchées en pantallons moule-burnes sont en haut des charts. Une idée suicidaire? Peut-être, mais as-t-on vu dans l’histoire de la pop music une compilation causée un tel impact?

La Nuggets, sera au même titre que le Velvet, Slade (pour les english), ou les Stooges, l’un des ingrédients de l’explosion punk de la fin des 70s… Et tout cela avec quelques singles pop! Sire a réédité la compilation en 1976, un signe des temps non? Eux qui signeront tout un paquet de ces formations issues du Roxy ou du CBGB!

La Nuggets,  aide à définir le garage rock, cet équivalent plus brutal et moins poli de beat music anglaise, le terme est à telle point entré dans les mœurs, qu’il est utilisé à toutes les sauces, et reste l’expression la plus connue pour parler de “rock 60s qui bouge” bien plus que “beat” ou la lubie des collectionneurs “freakbeat”.

La Nuggets c’est aussi le déclencheur des “compilations”, et de séries comme Pebbles (une séquelle directe de la Nuggets comme le nom le suggère!) Back from the Grave ou Rubbles, bref l’exemple à suivre, le maitre à dépasser! Celui qui créé la rupture epistémologique avec le avant.

Bref la Nuggets est un véritable acte fondateur, mais parfois ne lui attribue-t-on pas des choses à tord et à travers? Loin de moi l’idée de vouloir démonter l’un des paradygmes de la culture rock 60s… Juste rétablir la vérité.

La Nuggets n’avait pas vocation initiallement à définir un genre musical, se sont plus les observateurs, qui y ont vu une certaine cohésion et se sont empressés de définir “le garage”. Le tracklisting laisse suggérer que Jack et Lenny se sont surtout amusé à compiler des morceaux qu’ils trouvaient cool ensembles, saississant au passage probablement l’atmosphère folle propre aux 60s. Mais où est le garage dans “my world fell down” des Sagittarius, monument de pop baroque?

L’autre point à démystifier, c’est l’ “”underground”", ce concept néé à la fin des années 60 avec les hippies barbues et les folkeux intellos,  qui par définition n’a pas lieu d’être sur un disque sorti en 1965! Tous ses groupes souhaitaient la même chose: décrocher la timballe, et à défaut faire plein de concerts et s’amuser (avec des filles conciliantes), ici pas question d’art respecté, mais bel et bien au fond d’entertainement! C’est probablement pour ça que Lenny Kaye et Jack Holzman ont mêlé sans les distinguer des vrais tubes (psychotic reactions, i had too much too dream last night, liar liar), avec des demis tubes (open my eyes, pushing too hard, you’re gonna miss me), et des pas du tout (let’s talk about girl, don’t look back). Résultats des courses, les deux hommes ont réussi leur mission: 37 ans après impossible de distinguer les tubes du reste, c’est la qualité qui parle et pas le jugement des charts! Mais cela s’est fait quand même avec une incompréhension, celle du groupe “sorti du ruisseau”, ce qui n’était manifestement pas le cas de groupe comme Count Five ou les Castaways ayant eu leurs 5 minutes de gloire!

Bref après ces remarques on va croire que je trouve cette compilation surrévaluée, bien loin de moi cette idée! La Nuggets est un monument, qui contribue à réhabiliter tout un tas de choses, sorti à un moment hallucinant, mais attention à ne pas trop vouloir interprété ce qui au départ est une simple collection de morceaux pop mortels mis dans une pochette super cool!

Luke 17:25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Apparently, Donny Osmond won “Dancing with the Stars” last night on television. I never watch the show but millions of other people do, so I’m guessing that many of those who voted were lifelong fans of Donny.

I can remember his first single disc “Puppy Love” and how teenage girls all over the world screamed and swooned at the concerts where he was performing. After Elvis and the Beatles, Donny and his brothers were the biggest act in the music world during the 1970’s. His only rival was a young black kid called Michael Jackson. It’s funny how life turned out for both of them.

I admire Donny’s comeback and maybe his win on the show will rekindle his showbiz career. He’s not done a lot of international performing for the past two decades, because most of his fans outgrew his music and rejected his ‘soppy’ love songs. Perhaps a new wave of nostalgia among his original fans will help rebuild his career.

People are fickle, especially those who are obsessed with celebrities. As the years come and go, so does their enthusiasm for performers, artistes, and stars. Even leaders in both the political and religious worlds can be negatively affected by this group mentality. One day the people want to crown you as their king; the next day the mob wants to crucify you to a Cross.

When Jesus was talking to His disciples, He warned them several times about the suffering to come. Most of them were caught up in Christ’s popularity and enjoyed being connected to Him. Jesus frequently reminded them about the fickleness of the crowds. He knew that He was destined to suffer. He fully understood that the people would one day reject Him.

Several generations ago, Christianity was a popular faith. The Church had helped lead our people through two World Wars and the Great Depression. Faith was a key component that enabled our people to endure the worst and hope for better days to come. But then, decades later, the same communities who had embraced and increased the Church began to reject Christ’s teachings.

Sadly, we now live in a time where agnostics and atheists are using their belief system to undermine, diminish, and marginalize our faith in the public arena. However, the Church has faced this before in different places and times. At some point, revival occurs and the Church emerges in a stronger way. We only have to look at the flourishing churches in the former Soviet bloc countries to see that this actually occurs. The world may delightfully tell us that the Christian Church is dying, but it forgets that death only means resurrection for us.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, You have stood the test of time and Your Church has endured persecution, devastation, and destruction throughout the centuries. Your Spirit never fails to inspire people every day to come to You. Thank You for the gift of the Church in the world and for the promises of hope and resurrection in the years to come. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

 

brigitte bardot, originally uploaded by david haggard.

the heavy eyeliner, the long hair with bangs swept to the side, the innocent yet exuberant sexuality. brigitte bardot’s mid-to-late 60s iconic image was a natural successor to marilyn monroe’s mysterious, tragic, voluptuous sexiness.

being a natural blonde named brigid has frequently lead to acquaintances calling me brigitte bardot.

Ich habe Weihn-achten umbenannt zu Lachneunen – witzig, oder? Nicht? OK, dann eben nicht.

Aber Spaß beiseite, Ernst lernt laufen: noch 30 Tage bis zum Tag, wo wir alle unsere fiesesten Gedanken im Zaume halten; zweifeln, ob es Gott doch gäbe; die glitzernden Lichter der Kerzen sich in unseren Augen spiegeln und alle glauben, die Augen wären vor Rührung feucht. Wieder SOS (Socken, Oberhemden, Schlips), das Parfum für die Gattin und ein vollkommen überteuerter Weihnachtsbaum in Form einer Nordmanntanne ziert mehr oder weniger passend die viel zu kleine Wohnstube.

Jedes Jahr wieder überlegen wir, diese Tage in der Fremde zu verbringen. Doch unser Kater macht uns einen Strich durch die Rechnung – wer soll den denn wohl versorgen? Na gut, alles wieder zurück in die Betten. Ist ja auch eine schöne Zeit. Die Suche nach der Lichterkette zum Beispiel:

“Hast du schon auf dem Schrank im Gästezimmer gesucht?”

“Jepp! Fehlanzeige.”

“Oder im Abstellraum?”

“In welchem?”

“Oder in der Garage?”

Auf diesem Wege lerne ich endlich mal wieder alle Räumlichkeiten kennen; letztendlich wird die Kette wahrscheinlich dort liegen, wo sie hingehört: in der Tiefkühltruhe oder unter dem Weinregal, dort war gerade noch Platz. Habe ich sie endlich gefunden, wartet diese auf die Installation in der Tanne, um mit Sicherheit nach Geschäftsschluss nicht zu leuchten – weil eine Birne durchgebrannt ist oder das Netzteil unauffindbar ist. Na ja, wir haben ja noch Kerzen aus Wachs. Aber keine Streichhölzer und kein Feuerzeug, wir rauchen nicht.

Ob die denn kommen, die Kinder? Ich fand das ja immer schrecklich: wer wann zu wem. Da sind wir ja überweg. Gott hab sie selig, die lieben Eltern. War auch schön, ja, wirklich.

Wahrscheinlich sind die Kinder wieder als erstes bei Schwiegereltern in spe. Echt fies. Na ja, dann verhaften wir die am ersten Feiertag. Die Reste bekommen die auch schön mit: alles übereinander rein in die Tupperschalen.

Und: wir schenken uns nichts! Nur eine Kleinigkeit. Im letzten Jahr hat das auspacken der liebevoll verpackten Gaben eine und eine halbe Stunde gedauert. Es wurde gewürfelt: eine sechs heißt, das nächste Geschenk mit dem eigenen Namen nehmen, eine andere Zahl bedeutet aussetzen. Wir mussten extra die zusätzliche Tischplatte einbauen, um alle Geschenke aufzubauen. Der Haufen mit dem zerknüllten Geschenkpapier versperrte hinterher die Tür und war ein Abenteuerspielplatz für unseren Kater.

Auch die Suche nach einem passenden Menü sorgt immer wieder für vorweihnachtliche Streitereien. Etwas Exotisches, was man nicht jeden Tag isst.

Filet im Darm (auch Würstchen genannt) mit Kartoffelsalat? Nee, nach zweien wird mir übel.

Oder Fondue. Nee, zu gefährlich und außerdem müffelt das ganze Haus nach Fett.

Gans. Nee, zu viel für zwei Personen.

Pute. Nee, da essen wir wieder 10 Tage Putenfleisch in allen Variationen.

Wabbelkarpfen mit Brackwassergeschmack. Nee, da schmecken nur die Kartoffeln mit Meerrettichsauce.

The sixties revival dinner – ja genau.

Ich glaube ja, wir machen Schnittchen, Käseigel, gefüllte Eier, Spargel im Schinken eingerollt, Pumpernickel-Käse-Würfel, Salzgebäck, Eibrot (auf Weißbrot mit pappiger Rinde: da fällt der Belag immer schön runter, wenn man reinbeißt), teuren Aufschnitt (Schweinebraten mit Glibber, Roastbeef mit Remoulade, Lachsschinken), Mixed Pickles (Nein, das sind keine Akne, sondern süß-sauer eingelegte Gemüse), Perlzwiebeln und zum Nachtisch Majala-Pudding! Diesen Pudding gibt es wohl nicht mehr – da war immer eine gelbe oder rote Kugel drin, in der wohl die ganzen ungesunden Aroma- und Farbstoffe konzentriert waren. Zitrone und Orange – köstlich. Mit Sahne natürlich.

Dazu ein schönes Astra-Bier oder Cotes-du-Rhone, Kröver Nacktarsch als weißen Wein, erlesene Bismarck-Selter, für die Kinder Apfelsaft mit Selter gemixt.

Und als Krönung die Krönung von Frau Sonntag. Und einen Asbach. Weil, wenn einem soviel Gutes wird beschert …

Dann noch mal schön aufstoßen, die Geschenke zu denen vom Vorjahr packen und das Testbild anschauen. Einschlafen.

Nein!! Nicht einschlafen! Wir müssen ja noch zur Christmette in die Kirche. Endlich hat der Pastor mal wieder die Schäfchen beisammen und lässt sie nicht raus, bis auch der letzte so tut, als glaubte er an den ganzen Schmonz mit der Jungfrau, die ein Kind bekommt. Empfangen vom heiligen Geist, geboren von der Jungfrau Maria. Ja dann. Also doch nicht der Klapperstorch?

Ist aber trotzdem eine schöne Zeit.Weihnachten, Ostern auch. Erinnerungszeit, Besinnungszeit, Gewichts-Tsunami-Zeit.

Wie es wohl wäre, wenn man Heiligabend am Strand säße, genüsslich einen Kaipi schlürfte und durch das Handy mitgeteilt bekommt, dass es in Deutschland junge Hunde regnet oder Schneewehen einsetzen?

Nicht schön. Ich stehe zu Weihnachten wie zu Ostern. Jeder so, wie er es mag.

In diesem Sinne wünscht euch der Nikolaus eine stressfreie Zeit!

sixties! french! Playboy! for full spread…

look for miss dollface in upcoming The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus

Been away for a while, had flu (of the swine to get rid of variety); it had a lull, where it went away for a week and then came back even worse than before. Not nice.

Did not go to Socialism 2009, for personal reasons, so cannot give any indepth reportage this year. Still producing Newsletters for the small group of readers.

Looking forward to Christmas this year. Attended a friend’s 60th birthday party. It was very good, some people came in costumes and sixties music played in the background.

or: I’ll trade you civil liberties circa 1980, for the right to beat your wife circa 1920

or: If Glenn Beck were a decade, which one would he be?

For almost a year now, and even further back possibly, I have been fascinated with politics and punditry. I have become a self-proclaimed politico and I follow politics and media pretty closely, as closely as my tenuous hold on sanity will allow. In following politics my liberal mind has always been perplexed by the conservative party line of ‘returning to traditional American values’ and trying to recapture the ‘lost spirit of what it is to be an American’. In recent months it as been the loud ram’s horn call of Glenn Beck, and his ever growing audacity matched only by his ever growing audience, that has caused me to pontificate further on this subject. For the past few weeks this idea of lost values and traditional American fundamentals has led me to research where we might have gone wrong. Is there a specific time and place, a particular era that the GOP and other right-leaning hard-liners would want us to return to? If I can put my finger on the ethos that these guiding principles existed in, can we get back there? I delve in to this quagmire of American history to try and find “Glenn’s America”, so that he and others can stop preaching in general broad strokes and say, “we need to get back to what we believed in 19XX (or 18XX as it may be).”

When examining the general party ideas of what I understand to be the GOP’s fundamental idealogical structure I take my understanding from some 25 years on this planet, though you can’t count the first 16. I think that until you turn 17 and start trying to find yourself and begin to shape your views and identity in preparation for voting and contributing to society you are more of a blank slate in terms of personal free thought; up until this point you do not question a source but only try to fit in to the general parameters of ‘normal’ life as to not rock the boat and interfere with the indoctrination that American public schools instill in our youth. My true views have been shaped in my most recent years and as such I have adopted a view of the world quite different from my parents’, a direct result of informing myself for the first time in my life. In my home growing up as a small boy liberal leaders and democratic ideals warranted venom and crass, lewd criticism. The views I set forth will be of my own creation, independent of those I was raised on, either despite or in spite of them, I cannot tell. A crazy person isn’t crazy if he knows he’s crazy. Indeed.

The GOP seems to feel that gays should not marry, and are sinful. This makes no sense to me as sinful is a religious idea, not a political one; though it seems one position is quite often the result of the other. Gun rights should be protected at all costs to personal safety and public responsibility. Abortion is a no-no, ‘nuff said. They want smaller government, tax cuts, reform to let states decide things, though not gay marriage rights or any of the other items I just mentioned. They are for fiscal responsibility. GOP feels that a free market should regulate itself, again smaller government. They claim to fight for the middle class but public programs and universal anything is bad, that’s more government. They hate the environment as far as I can tell. Campaign finance reform (yeah right), education in America (no child left behind has gone so well after all). Prayer in school is ok, capital punishment and the death penalty are pretty much thumbs up, and the Ten Commandments should be at the steps of a courthouse flying the confederate flag. I am pretty close on this, right? So, basically it is a small government that has an abridged copy of the constitution, a cliff’s notes of the Bill of Rights, and a bible as it’s guiding principles. Hmmm, ok.

So, in American history, where can we find this utopia we strive for every day? This shangri-la we lost so long ago would obviously be the one saving grace for this country of godless sodomites. If we could only return to this point in time then everything would be fine. As far as I can tell it is the GOP that can save us if you believe the rhetoric. The liberals and the liberal media have scattered us across the nation and we are divided along partisan lines and are all doomed unless we jump on the Republican band wagon like some lifeboat after the Titanic sank. This is what self proclaimed “libertarian” Glenn Beck would like you to believe. I will give him credit for criticizing the government as a whole, even in the Bush days, though not in such inflammatory terms, but in reality he is like a Liber-publican. So, let’s take a step, Glenn, in to the way back machine and start a search for the time in American history you would like us to return to, as well as all of the Republican nay-sayers.

I want to start by saying that I am skipping the nineties completely being that he wasn’t happy with Clinton either, and it is far too close to the 21st century and the liberal progress this country has made; there is no way anyone wants to get back to how we were in the nineties, not even me and I loved my teen years in the nineties. And I am going to come back to the eighties later, they were too soon as well, but I will look at them briefly. We are sending our way back machine to a time when I think this country went bat-shit crazy and we were in maybe the most turmoil as a nation than anyone today can recall. I want to start out in the era that good old Glenn was born in, and that many of our current figure heads today, that make our decisions, can remember very ‘fondly’…the sixties.

Well I start here, in this decade of utter unrest by trying to illustrate that this can’t possibly be the America Glenn wants back. This cannot be the period in American history we want to recapture. This was a time that the late Strom Thurman must have hated with more zeal than any other period in history. It is hard to decide where to start. The sixties started out innocent enough, Kennedy beat Nixon and became the President, what followed was the Bay of Pigs incident, rumors about Marilyn, the meager beginning of Vietnam, the cuban missile crisis, then the man is assassinated. Further Vietnam BS, Malcolm X is killed, the Compton Cafeteria Riots in San Fran, then Nixon and all his Vietnam BS and his ‘secret plan to end the war’, the massive inflation crisis, MLK Jr. is killed, Bobby Kennedy is killed, the Stonewall riots of ’69, oh and a little thing who was named Manson did some killing. Great decade.

The sixties were a time of massive riots in the black and gay communities. Civil rights on all fronts tore the fabric of this country apart from women liberation, blacks, gays, even the Chicano revolution in this country. Outside of that was the acid wave of the sixties, a complete change in television, film, art, and especially music. The counterculture as it came to be known galvanized this country after the death of JFK, I think. The nice, homely manners of the 50’s were gone in a big way and now came very free thinkers, revolutionaries, protests exploded, demonstrations, inflation choked the middle class as they tried to compete with the changes in the landscape. The sixties were an ugly, hate-filled time, the emerging civil rights movement after the death of JFK was really the catalyst for it all. There is no way we want to return to the sixties as a country. America was in a violent turmoil and unsure of it’s identity and where the road we were on was going to lead us and people were strung out or scared for their lives, or both. I don’t think Glenn wants that back, so let’s move on.

How about we take a step forward and find Glenn in the seventies as a small boy, maybe these are the innocent and moral times he wants back…but I doubt it. Well in the seventies music really got good including the first ‘rap’ song, movies got weird, TV got lewd, and the country just got fucked up worse. This country started watching shows like All In The Family and the Brady bunch, dealing with some of the issues of the day. Vietnam choked the first few years while a little thing called Watergate slipped by the news press during Nixon’s re-election campaign and then killed him by ’74. It was the most embarrassing and shocking scandal in American political history, which in my opinion was the death of politics. I think that Nixon and his escalation of the doomed Vietnam war and his scandal killed the American political system. Outside of the US revolution was abundant across the world. Woodstock was a shining beacon of what drugs and music and mud can do for young people, a complete change from how we started the decade on the campus of Kent State where the National Guard gunned down peaceful protestors of the war on a college campus; unthinkable today, one would hope. The draft was the height of outrage, an unbelievable moment when Ali fought the draft and Elvis went in. Protest and anti-war sentiment was as widespread in this country as pant legs were flared. The Cold War ramped up a bit and this country got really scared, really fast. Our involvement in a few revolutions and military coupes as well as an assassination or two was a continuation of poor foreign affairs decisions. The middle east started down the road to where we are today with Israel, Egypt, Syria, the Soviet Union, and Afghanistan, all starting to kick each others asses.

The seventies brought women’s rights to the forefront as the sixties had civil rights for minorities eclipsing women’s rights to some extent. Vietnam ended finally, well our involvement, leaving the North to just wait for us to leave and drop Saigon to it’s knees and claim the country unified again. A sad end to a war we should have not been in and an end that was mostly our fault. Oh and lest I forget the massive recession we were in mixed with oil crises a couple of times resulting in rationing and further middle class stresses that included a very high unemployment rate. Then of course there was Jonestown, about 900 dead there. Idi Amin started his tyrannical, violent rule of Uganda as well. Is this the era we should return to? Hatred, war, violence, and tragedy pock marked this era. The seventies hold within their years scandal, racism, and fear-mongering, of the most epic scale one can imagine. There is no way we want to return to the moral or political views of this era. The seventies were the time for change for sure, but it came at great expense on the heels of a decade of radical change and upheaval. The 70’s continued the massive crime rate spikes that the sixties brought and the country still sat on the edge of it’s seat every day as nothing seemed to get better. Surely we don’t want the seventies back.

Ok, the eighties might be better, the days of Reagan and Bush, this might be the most likely time we want to return to. The eighties would be the most formidable years of Beck’s life; the decade of excess. The eighties brought the yuppie, and with it, all the coke, parties, and BMW’s we could handle. We saw great multinational growth and wall street was glamorous, they were kings then, still total scum, but they had better PR people then. Of course Reagan declared a War on Drugs, the Cold War raged to a massive scale. Sure, communism fell apart as did the Berlin Wall, but we saw the further mishandling of the middle east that is the source of our problems and involvement there today, can’t argue with that. Reagan put a major black eye on his presidency with the discovery of the Iran-Contra debacle that Oliver North was the mastermind behind. This country saw massive economic growth against the backdrop of very complicated and protracted battles all over the world including Asia, the middle east, central and south america, and ever Ireland with ‘the troubles’ brewing. (Only badass Irish would call a modern, religious civil war ‘the troubles’, an understatement to say the least)

The eighties, I think were a time of thinking that we could not be beaten, being the short attention span of Americans forgetting the seventies. We were coked out of our minds, living beyond our means, and we were kicking Commie ass. But the eighties, world wide, were complicated, painful growth, some democratic, but on the whole we saw massive famine and destruction abroad as the industrialized countries were making head way. The middle class of nations was being evaporated as the gap between rich and poor nations grew drastically. Domestic issues were tough though, as it seemed we were trying to use our power for good as a people with things like LiveAid and becoming more aware of issues in Africa and other countries, the eighties saw the rise of the religious right. They really got fired up on the gay issue and the discovery of AIDS, ‘the gay plague’. This country grew in many way, a decent decade I guess, I don’t really remember much of it but it seemed like a lot of people were having a lot of fun, safer fun.

Glenn probably liked the eighties, he used to be a liberal and an alcoholic, he draws a fine parallel between the two in a Katie Couric interview you should look up on YouTube, and this might have been his favorite time. Old enough to enjoy and understand it, he probably had a great time. Conservatives in power, strides made internationally, excess and money everywhere. The eighties were a wild party time, a decade that seemed to be a release of the past twenty years of hard work, growing pains, and controversial conflict. The 60’s and 70’s were going to lead inevitably to a time when we finally just cut loose and took a deep breath after so much bloodshed, upheaval, and serious talk. It was the decade we all remembered fondly on VH1. Music was weird, movies were great, TV was filled with classics we all watched, and standup comedians were making it big; the country was having a good laugh, a bump, and some beer. Not too bad.

I discount the nineties entirely so let’s jump back to a more general era I don’t think we can reasonably go back to, the 50’s to the 30’s. This was another era of massive wars, depression, civil rights injustice, bigotry, no women’s liberation, industrialization, organized crime, et al. These were times when blacks were openly hung from gallows, women were expected to be barefoot and pregnant in front of the stove, except when they were making tanks for the troops overseas for next to nothing wages. A time where minorities were rightfully scared at night of police or white boys out for a joyride. The prohibition, crime in the streets, Bonnie and Clyde, the Tommy gun, the B.A.R., saloons, speakeasy’s, and rampant bank robberies and crooked cops on the beat. This was a different time for this country and I don’t think we can agree with many of the ideals that were held to in this time and apply it today, the role of women alone is too much inequality to bare, let alone the rest.

OK, let’s take a big jump to my favorite era, the old west. You know the times, I’m talking post manifest destiny, pre-FBI. A time of no gun laws, showdowns in the streets, legal prostitutes, and riding in to town on a horse. Tombstone, San Francisco, Indian and cowboys. A time where gold was rushing and crazy white drunks ran amok and contracted TB and polio. Yes, when there were still a few Indians around, you had ranchers with thousands of acres, cattle drives, train robberies, and the men of storied legend lived and died by Winchester, Colt, and Smith&Wesson. I like to think I lived in the times with a town sheriff, shitty beer, floozies, and general martial law over most of the country. A time where you could shoot a man in the street in broad daylight in front of 50 people, and they might actually clap and then go about their day. The good times.

I think this might not be far enough back though. When I hear Glenn speak, he talks about the founding father’s principles. The true foundation of the country as he sees it with the men who earned America through blood, sweat, and tears. Jefferson’s America. OK, well let’s first examine the fact that we are talking late 1700’s and early 1800’s. These are pre-electric, pre-phone times. We are talking Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere, plantations, etc. If this is the time Glenn thinks we need to get back to I want to highlight a couple of things. First off, slavery was alive and well…need I say more? Secondly, this country treated women like shit, there were no civil rights, and it was unindustrialized. This country was populated and run by rich, white land owners, and then there was everybody else. I don’t want anyone to romanticize this era. This country was created, founded, and declared on the bodies of millions of natives and the death and suffering of minority races of people removed from their homes and treated worse than dogs in the time period.

America has never been truly righteous. We revolted for selfish reasons, nothing simpler than that. We turned against the imperialism of the Queen and her rule and declared our independence; the worst “dear John” letter ever. Up to that point we had slaughtered, tricked, infected, raped, and pillaged our way to the Mississippi and thought very highly of white skin and could kill a black man for any reason at any time, or sell them, whatever struck our fancy. What I am about to say is going to piss off the right, but if I could meet George Washington I think I would take the opportunity to shake his hand and then slap the wooden teeth out of his head. These were racist white bigots with an knack for the written word and hard on for ‘freedom’ by their definition as it applied to them as an emerging nation of first class citizens at the top of the shit pile. All due respect, but their ideas and principles were fundamentally offensive and their beliefs of equality were for themselves and those they agreed with. How many minorities or women were running around enjoying their freedom of speech or right to bare arms…or even read? I rest my case.

So maybe Glenn does have a time in mind. Maybe he wants the scandalous, violent 70’s, or the civil unrest and inequality of the 60’s. The old west certainly had smaller/non-existent national government, and the 40’s sure were good times to be a gangster, Nixon would have done well, that’s for sure. The eighties surely had the best coke, and some unprecedented growth, outside of post-industrialized America (without all of these pesky labor laws we got). Maybe he wants the great depression era, maybe to live amongst the greatest generation, or rub elbows with white men who raped their slaves on their plantation as a matter of principle and patriotism. The history of America is short, embarrassing, and seemingly without a lesson learned throughout. Glenn, I dare you and your constituents to point out that shining beacon in American history that is so much better than now, ‘cause I must have missed it. All those moments have led up to now, and I’ll be damned if where we are isn’t a hell of a lot better than where we were; you can pry this progress from my cold dead hands, pal.

I haven’t had a good chance to peruse this website, but it was featured in Simon Fraser’s student newspaper. It’s a collection of art that is documented in Vancouver in the sixties. Pretty self explanatory. So, if you’re interests lie in the radical art of the 1960’s and how art was perceived around this era, I’m sure you should find this website interesting.

Vancouver Art in the Sixties

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.   With apologies to Charles Dickens, I would borrow from the despair of the French Revolution and the economic inequity of British industrialization to revisit a decade of despair in American History.  A former American president suggested that if one believed that the sixties was a good decade, he was likely to be a Democrat.  If he believed the sixties was a bad decade, he was more likely a Republican.  

It was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness.  Our best and brightest on the campuses of American academia, took over administration buildings, participated in sit-ins and marches, and freedom rides.   The names Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner will live forever, one Black and two Jewish boys who died in Mississippi.   

It was the epoch of belief; it was the epoch of incredulity.   The Byrds brought the biblical seasons of Ecclesiastes to a generation that had lost its faith in the church and organized religion.   There was a time to every purpose under Heaven, but the generation that read us to sleep with Bible stories blocked the doors of schools, churches, and restaurants denying access to some of God’s children.  A generation not remembered as the greatest was conscripted, killed, alienated, disillusioned, mislead, and maligned.

It was the season of Light; it was the season of Darkness.   It was a time of the Kingston Trio, Joan Baez, of Peter, Paul and Mary, of Jazz, of Bluegrass, of Appalachian folk music.   It was a time of Marijuana and Acid and Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.

It was a season of fragile innocence, of protest and patriotism, a season for burning flags and crosses.    It was a season of assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK, of heroes remembered in the dramatic simplicity of three initials symbolic of the decade of both hope and despair, of peace and violence.

It was the spring of hope; it was the winter of despair.  Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  We crossed the barrier of segregation in the universities in Mississippi and Alabama.  We watched Buddhist monks douse themselves in gasoline and burn to death in the market squares of Vietnam.   We watched Catholic priests imprisoned for advocating resistance to war. Two and a half million Americans and Vietnamese died in a war that we came to decide was a mistake.   My Lai and Kent State became symbols of infamy that would define the decade.

We had everything before us; we had nothing before us.  We encountered Bull Conner, George Wallace, and Lester Maddox.   The champions of segregation became the demagogic heroes of Southern politics.   A death in Memphis changed the history of civil rights and integration.   Thousands marched from Selma to Montgomery.  We had 200,000 peaceful protesters in Washington, and riots in 110 cities.  The poor and black of the inner cities bombed and burned the businesses and landmarks owned by the poor and black of the inner cities.  

We were all going direct to Heaven; we were all going direct the other way.   We stared in horror at the pictures of Vietnam, the naked nine-year-old girl running from the fireball of napalm, the graphic execution of the Viet Cong prisoner, and bloody and broken bodies of American sons and daughters, the screaming and pleading Kent State student, the soldier with a peace symbol and a cross on a chain around his neck framed by bandoleers of ammunition over his shoulders. 

A generation advocating peace, love, justice, equality, and democracy lost confidence in and waged war against its government, its parents, its church.   Four decades later, aging flower children and heroic veterans have mingled their tears and shared their memories of the best of times and the worst of times, a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to keep silent, and a time to speak.

In the kitchen, an amused Barney, arm well braced in measured anticipation of the recoil, smiles with anticipation as he takes aim at the enchanting Alison.

Alison, inspiration for the song of that name, sitting across the kitchen table, brazenly  ignoring the gun pointed at her, enchants me with what I hopefully imagine is the gaze of a beautiful woman interested in my presence.

thank you classic rock groups
which began in the 1960’s
for teaching me how to
play the electric guitar.

—

—

Have you heard of “Fancy Nancy?”  Apparently, she’s a well-known character in a series of children’s books written by a woman named Jane O’Connor.  At first I was intrigued because I have a granddaughter, who while not yet old enough to appreciate the book series, I’m sure will be a “Fancy Nancy” once she’s old enough to dress herself.  I started reading an article about the author.  Turns out she’s 61 and the inspiration for her Leading Lady in her books is herself as a child.  She said “Six-year-old me definitely had a glittery side that the grown-up me had somehow lost.”

I got to thinking about the women I know who, like Ms. O’Connor, grew up in the 50s and 60s and came of age during the 70s.  We worked hard, some of us raised families, we competed with the men and along the way we “lost our glittery side.”  The thing is, it wasn’t just us.  Our entire culture has lost its glitter.  We are entranced by it among the Hollywood starlets who seem to come along in herds and period dramas like Mad Men.

But, when you think of everyday Americans, admit it, you see women in unisex oversized T-shirts, baggy shorts, crew socks and hefty sneakers every single day!

I bring this up because I know that many of us would love to be able to wear that chic new black pencil skirt and the sequined fitted T.  The question lingers though, where on earth would I wear it?  Our super casual American lifestyle has brought us comfortable clothes, but at what aesthetic cost?  Why does our lifestyle encourage casual and frumpy over  beautiful and sanguine, especially once we’ve reach 50?  I encourage you, whether you live in a small town in South Dakota or a large metropolis, do all you can to reinstate your “glitter.” A trip to the grocery store or a trip to Europe – it’s all the same, add beauty, womanliness, and grace in every activity – get dressed for the day with purpose. Who’d like to join my movement?

I can hear the uproar now:  “But I love being comfortable and not having to worry about how I look every time I leave the house.”  Think about the message you’re giving yourself, not to mention those you come in contact with — “No one really cares what I look like, I’m just an old lady. There’s no need for me to look fabulous anymore, I think I’ll just become invisible.”  You may not consciously think or say this, but you are subconsciously creating your own irrelevance. Fight back.

Today is the day you put on a little more lipstick and release your inner “Fancy Nancy.”

~Christine, TCW Style Expert and Glittery Goddess

Betty Draper, wife of Don Draper and mother of three, is a forceful, flirtatious, attractive and cute woman. Even though she might not be too content with her situation as a housewife of a womanizing husband her style feminine, preppy and fun style tells otherwise.

Rarely you will catch this woman in dark somber colors, as most of what she owns is dresses or full skirts paired with blouses and cardigans in light, fun colors and often printed. Her waist is often emphasized with a skinny belt and although her hemlines stay just below the knee she has more fun with flirty necklines and roomier sleeves on the coats. Possibly her way of grabbing a little bit of attention rather than just being the trophy wife next to the husband. Her attention to details like many women of the sixties is amazing, never leaving the house without always adding a purse, gloves, a hats or jewelry to complete her outfit.

She is such a picture perfect image, no strand on her head is out of place, it is almost disturbing. Given I hav not seen the Mad Men series, however, a person as seemingly exemplary as Betty Draper many a times has something to hide behind their lovely facade. Everyone has their dark secrets.

Time for yet another episode of the ‘What Have I been reading’-lists I’ve been keeping. I use a little booklet for this, and I’m already dreading the day that the book is full. Most of it is written in pencil, so that I could erase it, but maybe I’ll just make a 900 pages long notebook myself, in which I meticulously keep listed what I’ve read in my life. My children, or my parents, my friends will find this list one day, thinking that I spent too much time reading and too little time living. But They don’t know that that’s just the same. By the way, no Amazon links this time, cause i think you all should start to buy at your independent or secondhand bookstores. Go for it guys.

David Eagleman – Sum

This is one of the best books I read this year, I think. Eagleman, a neuroscientist and writer, comes up with 40 short tales (microfiction it is called) about how the afterlife would be. Especially the first ones made me gasp for air, admiring the great train of thoughts Eagleman is taking in all these little stories. On his website you can read a few sample stories. They are not all as great, and I think I read the book in a too short time. You should be able to just read one story a week, so you’ll be amazed for forty weeks. I tried to keep it to 3 stories a day, but ended up finishing it faster than I could.

Richard Brautigan – The Abortion

A story from the sixties about a man who works in a library for unwanted books, hooks up with an unwanted writer, gets her pregnant, and they decide to have an abortion in Mexico. The plot is a perfect recipe for melodrama, but Brautigan, the hippie that he was, makes into this sweet love story. There is this lack of tension, which makes it a good in-between read, but I’m not sure if Brautigan will ever become my favorite sixties writer (he has to compete with people like Vonnegut and Tom Robbins)

Paul Auster – Timbuktu

I’m a big Auster fan, and this was one of the few books i hadn’t read yet, but it quite disappointed me. I love the beginning, when Mr. Bones is still around his excentric boss, Willy Christmas, whose job it is to spread the merry Christmas thought, after Santa Claus himself told him too. I loved the hobo monologues. But then Willy Christmas disappears from the story, and you get this tale of a dog looking for a new home. It was just too much a disney story to me. It hadn’t the same depths like other Auster books. The main character being a scruffy dog just didn’t work for me. I can remember I felt the story had a bit a too much constructed plot, just because you’re dealing with a dog here. Making the dog able to understand people? It’s a bit too easy.

Alex Robinson – Box Office Poison

This was my Graphic Novel portion for this month – I have no graphic novel buying frenzy planned for the following weeks, so there probably won’t be one in my next list, though you never know off course how much i break my own promises – but boy did I love it. It wasn’t too alternative underground this time, although it still had this typical American “look at me, cause I’m neurotic feel to it”. Box office poison deals with the life of twenty-somethings in New York, growing up; It was like a more serious version of Friends in a way. One of the main characters is a comic book artist (see, it’s all self-indulgent), and ends up working for this guy who invented a famous super hero, but doesn’t get the recognition for it. But it’s also about friendship, relationships… really nice one…

Hugo Claus – Friday

Hugo Claus is supposed to be one of the finest writers to have ever lived in Belgium, the one Belgian writer ever been named for the Nobel prize, but I never had read something from him before. Excuse me: I had tried, but put the book away after 10 pages, cause it bored the hell out of me. Friday was okay, because it was a play, and because it was short. It’s about this man who returns from prison where he has been because he supposedly sexually harassed his own daughter. His wife in the meantime got pregnant from the man’s best friend. The emotional relationships between those three characters, the doubt about the guilt or innocence from the father..it was quite interesting. But there are so many referrings to a world in Flanders that no longer exists, that it also seemed archaic… I guess that most people nowadays will think this is just out of time.

Magnus Mills – The Scheme for Full Employment

Magnus Mills is a British writer, who is writing about absurd situations. Not very high-brow literature, but just a writer who likes to amuse his audience. I read a few books of him, and quite liked this one. It’s about the Plan, a sort of government business that involves people riding down in vans from one storage place to another, being on very tight time schedules. People that are part of the plan get payed good, have job security. But then there is this feud about the time schedules, and everything starts crumbling down. Witty stuff.

Mario Reading – The New Prophecies of Nostradamus

I’m interested in the obscure, and Nostradamus has fascinated me. But,  I also think it’s a lot of bollocks. Mario Readings thinks it’s not and tried to interpret quite a few of Nostradamus’ predictions. I bought this book from a friend who works in a secondhand bookstore, and texted her just a few hours later that this is probably the worst book I’ve ever read in my entire life (well, no..nothing beats Siloam in Dutch translation) . You see, Mario Reading’s readings are laughably far-fetched. He connects dots by pulling a curly line from point A to point Q, to end up at point B. If he reads about burning suns, he’ll look up some sort of mythology, going from Egyptian to Persian mythology, and then come up with an interpretation that makes me think the writer’s a bit schizophrenic. This book got released in 2006, and the fact that every interpretation thus far, is completely wrong, proves my point. Don’t buy this junk.

Michel Tournier -The Ogre (book cover is in Dutch, exactly like the book I have)

Classic of the month. Don’t know how I do it, but I always end up reading at least one novel that is part of world literature a month. Anyway, this one definitely deserves to be there. It’s perhaps quite the dramatic, baroque and intellectual – with all the cultural references – story, but it touches a strange nerve that only classics are able to touch. I don’t know. These books have proven themselves, and though the status of this book is probably not that big in Anglosaxon parts of the world, it is also a book of a certain status. The story is quite hard to just put into a few words, but it’s about this man Tiffauges, who has his own garage on the dawn of World War 2, but has this urging sense of some sort of holy mission in his life. I don’t wanna spoil the rest of the story, but the outcome seems to be quite gruesome. It’s an allegory about the dark sides of life, without even realizing it until you finish it.

Brian Evenson – The Wavering Knife

This guy was on my list for a long time, as many others, but I finally decided to buy a copy of one of his books. Based upon reviews I read about other works of him, I had suspected more something in the line of Chuck Palahniuk, but Evenson is gruesome in a different way. He has this aura of intellectuality over him, which i like at times, and deals not so much with typical american themes. That being said, some of his stories are hilarious, e.g. the one where a disgruntled German man writes an essay about a travel guide his grandfather has written about mexico. He’s raving about the poor English translation by this American writer, but it turns out the English book isn’t even close to a translation. It’s a different book all together. Very nice one. Really makes me wanna read one of his novels.

Ian McEwan – Amsterdam

A modern classic perhaps, but one that didn’t appeal to me that much. Just up until the ending, when I decided that i was curious enough to read it all the way to the end. Here, the artifial atmosphere of intellectuality quite bothered me. An editor-in-chief of a news paper, a classical composer… I normally don’t care about jobs and lives, but I always have a hard time if books have characters of a certain standing (That’s why victorian novels don’t appeal to me at all). That being said, I think the book had some interesting themes, and the ending was quite surprising. I just think it would’ve worked better as a short story though.

Things I am reading now, but haven’t finished yet, are: Roland Topor, Daniil Charms and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Enjoying all three of them.

See you next time.